This weblog was created to act as a platform for the voice of secular pro-democracy activists in and outside Iran who are struggling against the religious dictatorship of the Islamic clerics in Iran.
My favourite quote:
"Evil only prevails when the good stay silent"

Monday, November 28, 2005

As expected, the public commemoration of the Forouhars was banned this year by the Islamic Republic. Instead Parastou held the commemoration in her late parents' home and as usual the crowds came to honour the memory of the slained dissidents, Daryoush and Parvaneh Forouhar.What the regime does not realise is that Daryoush and Parvaneh Forouhar are in the hearts of the Iranian people. Whether they ban their public commemoration or not, Iranians will always remember the sacrifices of the Forouhars and they will always remember the hideous crimes of the clerics in the last 25 years.

Iranian President Ahmadi-Nejad, reflected on his trip to the UN, in a meeting with Ayatollah Javadi-Amoli. Parts of this meeting have been published in the Iranian website baztab.org. See:http://www.baztab.com/news/31076.php

In the film, the President reports that once he started his speech, reciting the opening verse of Koran's chapters, suddenly he was surrounded by a mysterious protective light. He carries on telling the Ayatollah that those present in the hall also noticed this cosmic phenomenon. "I could clearly see the audience stopped blinking once they saw the light surrounding me!" The president described to the Ayatollah.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

British Iranians staged a silent picket outside the Lib Dem HQ, in Cowley Street, Millbank. The picket was in protest at remarks made by Lib Dem Baroness, Emma Nicholson, in the European Parliament, who referred to the Islamic Republic as "an advanced form of democracy in the region".

The protesters, mostly professional, took time off work and braved the cold London weather, and stood outside the Lib Dem HQ, handing out leaflets - see below - to passers by and Lib Dem members who were visiting the party HQ.

After about one hour, a Lib Dem official first protested to the police that the protesters are using a residential property to display their posters, but the police reassured the official that the owner has given her consent after speaking to the protesters.

Soon after, the Lib Dem chief executive, Lord Chris Rennard, stepped out of the HQ to speak to the demonstrators. The demonstrators explained that Baroness Nicholson's constant support for the Islamic Republic is providing the mullahs with a lot of undue credit and propaganda. Lord Rennard was told any comparison of the Islamic Republic with other countries in the region is an absurd comparison. The Iranian people have struggled for the last 100 years for freedom of speech and an accountable government. The analogy would be to tell a Chinese dissident that the Chinese government is not as bad as North Korea or the Pol Pot regime! "No comparison with other countries in the region is relevant" Lord Rennard was told.Lord Rennard was also reminded about another Lib Dem peer who had said "Human Rights in Iran should not be compared with Western Human Rights standards but with that of the region. "There should be no classifcation of Human Rights", the demonstrators told Lord Rennard. "Human Rights is universal and it should not be classified by race or region".

Lord Rennard agreed and then asked what the protesters' demands were."We need a clear statement from the Lib Dem party on what their policy towards the Islamic Republic is. Do they support Emma Nicholson or do they distance themselves from her? If we do not have a satisfactory answer we will continue to campaign amongst British Iranians not to vote for Lib Dems and will stage hunger strikes outside the Party HQ" The demonstrators told Lord Rennard.

Lord Rennard promised to contact Sir Menzies Campbell, the Lib Dem Shadow Foreign Secretary and try to get a clarification on the party's policy on the Islamic Republic.

The protesters then thanked Lord Rennard and said they will await the reply by Sir Menzies Campbell. Lord Rennard however refused to give a statement to the journalists covering the event.

The leaflet handed out today:

Freedom Loving People of Britain! In a recent debate in the European Parliament, the Lib Dem Baroness, Emma Nicholson was the only MEP who praised the medieval theocratic state of the Islamic Republic of Iran, calling it “a more advanced form of democracy in the region”.

Islamic Republic is in fact a brutal, backward, religious dictatorship. Only Shiite Muslims can stand as candidates in the so-called "elections", but not all the Shiites; only the ones who accept the state interpretation of Shiite Islam, even then they are still vetted by the unelected Guardian Council before the elections and after the elections, yet despite all this the state used all its apparatus to cheat in the last presidential “elections” too.

We wrote to all Lib Dem MPs, MEPs and Lords to clarify their position on the Islamic Republic and on Baroness Nicholson’s continuous support for the mullahs. Only Lord Lester distanced himself from Baroness Nicholson. The leader of the Lib Dem MEPs, Chris Davies also replied to us but backed his colleague, Baroness Nicholson. Interestingly he also got Iran and Iraq mixed up in his reply!

By supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Lib Dems are supporting:

1) AN EVIL THEOCRATIC DICTATORSHIP

2) A REGIME WHICH STONES WOMEN TO DEATH

3) A REGIME WHICH HOLDS PUBLIC EXECUTIONS

4) A REGIME WHICH EXECUTES UNDERAGE MINORS

5) A REGIME WHICH SPONSORS INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

6) A REGIME WHICH PROVIDES TECHNOLOGY AND TRAINING TO KILL BRITISH SOLDIERS

7) A REGIME WHICH PUBLICLY ANNOUNCES WIPING ANOTHER COUNTRY OFF THE MAP

8) A REGIME IN WHICH WOMEN ARE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS

9) A REGIME WHICH KILLS AND IMPRISONS JOURNALISTS

10) A REGIME WHICH DOES NOT RECOGNISE FREEDOM OF RELIGION

We believe that none of the above are neither Liberal nor Democratic values and at a time when the Iranian president calls for another country to be wiped off the map, and the Islamic Republic technology explosives is killing British soldiers in Iraq, the Lib Dem leadership by not publicly distancing itself from Baroness Nicholson has shown gross incompetence and misjudgement.

Monday, November 21, 2005

So much nonsense has been said about president Ahmadi-Nejad and his working class hero cabinet members. As always, as soon as I hear anyone pretending to be some working class hero, or hear the words, the government of the disposessed and all that garbage, I feel nauseated.

Here is the aerial photo of Mr. Mahsooli's house, who would have been Ahmadi-Nejad's oil minister. Not exactly a spartan working class dwelling! More interestingly however, note the number of satellite dishes on his roof.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Top commanders of the Islamic Republic Armed Forces, in an unprecedented move appeared before Ayatollah Messbah Yazdi, the ideologue of the Hojjatieh sect.

Analysts believe this move, is a direct challenge to the authority of the "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Khamenei, and yet another sign that the members of the Hojjatieh sect are now in full control of the armed forces.

Well as predicted, this year the Islamic Republic has banned any commemoration ceremony for the Forouhars on the anniversary of their murder by the Islamic Republic agents. However, Parastoo Forouhar, the daughter of the murdered Iranian dissidents has defied the ban and will hold their commemoration in their former residence.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

The seventh anniversary of the hideous murder of Daryoosh and Parvaneh Forouhar is approaching. Thousands attended their funeral in the biggest anti-government demo in the Islamic Republic since the crackdown of the 80s on dissidents. Every year despite attacks by hired thugs, people have also attended their anniversary.

Parastoo Forouhar, their devoted and courageous daughter, has been making a trip to Iran, for each anniversary. Perhaps this year however is the biggest test of how afraid the people are of the new thugs in power. Will the people turn up to honour Iran's heroes as in the previous years and condemn the autonomous hit squads of the Islamic Republic? or as most expect will the atmosphere of fear and crackdown of the new Hojjatieh zealots in power, see an end to these anniversaries?

One thing is for sure, Parastoo will never give up her quest for justice to expose those who stabbed her parents to death.

See the report by Reporters without Frontiers for background information : http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8580

and here is a report of the fifth anniversary I wrote before:

The Daughter of Iran’s Slain Dissidents Calls for Justice not Revenge

Today, Iran’s lionesses once again were in the forefront of the struggle against the current Islamic dictatorship in Iran.

For the fifth year running the anniversary of the murder of Iran’s secular dissidents, Daryoosh and Parvaneh Forouhar, turned into a protest against the medieval rule of the clerics over our motherland.

If Jack Straw, Dominique de Vilpen andJoschka Fischer thought they had disheartened the Iranian people by their treacherous act of providing nuclear technology to the Islamic Republic, the cries of “Iranians will die before they accept dishonor” should once again remind them that throughout the turbulent Iranian history, our deep rooted passion of nationalism, and our deep rooted sense of duty for guarding the continuity of our nation has always inspired us in our darkest hours.

The Islamic regime rightly fearful of the show of dissent on the anniversary of the murder of Iran’s Sun and Lioness, tried in several ways to confuse the public. First by sending out false rumors about the place and time of the ceremony and then by banning it from the usual more accessible Baharestan Square, the very heart of Iranian democracy movement. The Islamic regime’s last desperate tactic was to close off the Highway exit leading to the Shariati Ave, where the ceremony was finally allowed to take place. But despite all this, the building, the yard, and all the surrounding streets were swarming with people wanting to pay their respects to the Late Forouhars.

Soon after Engineer Shahveisi’s speech, from Iran Nation Party, the crowd started chanting ‘Free All Political Prisoners’. The chairman tried to calm the crowds by saying the people of Iran should all be freed from a prison the size of the whole of Iran.

Then Moinifar a veteran nationalist, although not normally known for his outspoken remarks, pointed out all the shortcomings, flaws and futilities of the previous elections in the Islamic Republic and asked the crowd if it was right to participate in the next Islamic elections? The crowd roared back with cries of ‘Never, Never!” and “Taking Part in Elections is Treason to Our Nation”

Taken back by the crowds fervor in so zealously condemning participation in Islamic elections, the chair and Moinfar both asked the crowd to calm down so that the ceremony wouldn’t be interrupted.

Finally a woman of steel determination with the genealogy ofGord-Afarid, Iran’s mythical female warrior, took the stage. The crowds unanimously shouted her name ‘Parastoo, Parastoo, Parastoo’, while the chair kept urging the crowd to calm down, so Parastoo could make her speech. When the daughter of the late Forouhars started her speech, the crowd were all ears, mesmerized by her un-trembling and uncompromising voice of valor.

‘ …The last time I saw my father’s face was when I pulled back the shroud from his face at the morgue. I wanted to see his beaten face for one last time. As I stroked his beautiful hair with my hand, I felt the iciness of the many bitter winters he had had to struggle with. And next to him was his comrade, his friend Paravaneh. On my mother’s hands of courage there were bruises and scars of her last struggle with the killers. Scars and wounds were all over her once warm body which was fuelled by her kindness and affection. But her eyes were still full of zeal and enthusiasm, looking at the far horizons, as if despite the last violence she had to endure, she was still dreaming of her aspirations. Her aspiration of a free Iran! ….But from their death and their courage they left behind for our people a barricade, a barricade behind which we will continue the struggle….’

Parastoo then went on to name the other victims of what has become known as the “chain murder” victims and she continued the link to Zahra Kazemi, the Iranian born photo-journalist who was battered to death in the Islamic dungeons.

“…Let us not forget these martyrs! We have endured our pain and suffering on our broad shoulders and we have kept alive the flames of hope for justice deep within our wounded hearts. This pain we suffer with our love for the motherland and this pain is our common pain…We have carried this pain along with our quest for justice, in a country where justice has been crushed under the chains of despotism…”

Parastoo then continued saying how the regime, taken back by the public outrage, promised to deliver justice but how the real culprits were kept protected behind closed doors and missing files.

“Instead of justice, every voice seeking justice was silenced and the newspapers were closed down one after another and even our legal representative, Nasser Zarafshan, was sentenced to prison…”

At this time the crowd who had tears running down their faces, once again led by the women, shouted ‘Hail to Zarafshan, Hail to Zarafshan…”

“…And those who had promised “reform” to our people, left us halfway in the doldrums, … but you people who are the owners of this land do not forget our martyrs and continue to demand justice. But do not mistake this quest for justice and truth with the outdated violent response of revenge.For revenge bears violence and violence is only the pretext for despotism and oppression….Let this humanistic struggle for justice give birth to a society cleansed of violence and cruelty…Long live the memory of those who lost their lives for Iran, Victory to the people!”

Thus our 21St century Gord-Afarid stirred the passions and once again planted the seeds of hope for a free Iran in our hearts. As the chair declared the closing of the ceremony, the crowd stood up and sang the banned national anthem ‘Ey Iran, our glorious frontiers…”.

Outside the chants became more and more radical, and inevitably clashes took place with the organised hired thugs, always on the payroll to attack and injure those who raise the voice of dissent in the Islamic Republic. Many plain clothes secret agents were seen filming the protesters and one was attacked by the crowd. Even the photographer from the official student news agency website, ISNA was briefly arrested by plain clothes agents, but the continuous chants of ‘Let him go, Let him go’ by the people insured his release.

Although there were many foreign journalists including a Japenese film crew, as usual there was no sign of the BBC correspondent in Tehran, Jim Muir, who prefers the causey tea parties with his “reformists” friends, rather than reporting real news. LA based Persian TV stations also seemed to be away for the weekend, showing their usual trash programs not realising what was happening in the streets of Tehran. While Parastoo was asking the Iranian people to continue their struggle for justice, NITV’sproprietor clown, Zia Atabai was discussing the accusations made against Michael Jackson.

Today the Islamic Republic and her allies were once again reminded in the futility of the regime. For the Iranian nation are like an ongoing stream seeking to join the sea of liberty. For each one of us that falls, our sons and daughters will rise and carry the banner.The Arab invaders may have got the windmills going with the blood of our forefathers in Istakhr and destroyed our libraries and fire temples, but the fire within our hearts will never die.

What better news than this? Young Iranian NGO activists gathering by Cyrus the Great's relief and Cyrus's tomb, protesting at the building of the Sivand dam which may threaten Cyrus's tomb and flood over 100 excavation sites.

Children of Cyrus will never forget the founder of our country, whether the mullahs like it or not.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

It is hard to defend the Islamic Republic for any normal human being who wishes to appear as civilised, democratic, tolerant, peace and freedom loving etc. For who can justify putting a woman into a sack, bury her upto her waist and then stoning her to a slow death? Who can justify public executions in this day and age? What kind of a progressive person can justify the execution of minors? What kind of a person can justify persecution based on one's religious beliefs? What kind of a person can justify the rights of citizens based on their religious beliefs? The list is endless. No sane person can possibly defend the theocracy in Iran in the 21St century.

So how do these Western lackeys of mullahs justify supporting the Islamic Republic? Here is their latest desperate attempt. They keep comparing Iran with other countries in the region. These are typical quotes by some of the Western supporters of the Islamic Republic:"In Iran women can drive but they can't in Saudi Arabia""In Iran women have more rights than women in Afghanistan""In Iran women wear make up".....What strikes me first is why did these people never compare us with the others in the region before 1979? Why didn't they say women in Iran were the first in the region to have the right not to wear the veil? women in Iran were the first to have the right to vote, women in Iran were free to hold any jobs, from being an air pilot to being a judge. There were very progressive family laws in Iran and Iranian women were much more educated than others in the region, and all this was before the Islamic upheaval 1979. But for some strange reason, Iran was never compared with the other countries in the region then.

I remember one of the student dissidents against the Shah, who was looking back at his youth activities with some hindsight and regret, once said "The Shah used to send us to the West for our eductaion. We would see the way things were in Switzerland and England and then lament on how Iran lacks behind them. If only once, they diverted our planes, so that instead of a direct Geneva-Tehran plane, we stopped in Yemen, Pakistan or Afghanistan, perhaps we would then realise that actually things were not that bad in our own country."

The truth is, Iranian society is more advanced than those in the region but this has nothing to do with the mullahs. Jane Kokan, the journalist in the Channel 4 documentary Iran Under Cover, told me to my delight, if you talk to a typical Afghan, they ask you things like "what crops do you grow?" but the Iranians talk about more sophisticated subjects, like freedom, their culture, their history.

This overall higher refinement of Iranians to their neighbours in the region is nothing to do with the mullahs. The clerics in Iran have in fact reversed this process as much as they have been able to in the last 25 years. The credit for the more liberal and progressive values amongst Iranians compared to those in the region should go to the Iranian people and those who were in charge before 1979, not to the mullahs.

Before 1979, we had no stoning, we had no penal amputations, we had no compulsory wearing of the veil. Where the likes of Baroness Nicholson go wrong, and they know deep down that they are covering up, is that they give the credit to the mullahs instead of to the Iranians and our deep rooted history and culture.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

This message was received from Chris Davies MEP, and the Leader of the British Liberal Democrat MEPs in response to a protest letter, sent to all Lib Dem representatives, at Baroness Nicholson's support for Islamic Republic . As you can see in the letter, the leader of the Lib Dem MEPs, even gets Iran and Iraq wrong!!! That is the level of Lib Dem intellectual capability. Imagine if these amateurs were running the country!!

"I do not regard Baroness Nicholson's description of the Iranian political system as a 'more advanced form of democracy' than that of the country's neighbours as inaccurate. The system is a travesty of democracy but most international opinion acknowledges that in Iran there is at least the means for a limited form of democratic public _expression which is more than can be said for a great many countries in the Middle East. To describe her comments as racist is simply nonsense.

I wish to see a democratic and secular approach to government adopted in an Iran which pays full respect to human rights. This would be very different from the system that exists at present.

If you wish to demonstrate against the personal views of one of my party's representatives I am sure she would be the first to say that you have the right to do so.

For my part I will be happy to discuss the situation in Iraq with you at a meeting we could arrange at the European Parliament or at my constituency office in the North West of England.

About Me

Follow Me on Twitter @potkazar
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Last time I was in Iran, was during the Islamic "cultural revolution". I hated what was taking place in front of my eyes.
Illiterate gangs of thugs attacking students and academics and telling them how a university must be run! Book stalls being attacked, with books torn up and burned.
I knew then that I had to do something to get rid of this scourge of clerics who had seized power in Iran.
My main objective in life is to help establish a secular democracy in Iran.
I believe the best way forward for Iran to be based on four pillars of Democracy, Secularism, Nationalism and Meritocracy.
Most countries that have adopted these principles have been prosperous, why shouldn't our people be one of them?